Oxlajuj B'atz' ---- Thirteen Threads ---- Trece Hilos

Chuaperol

This group is named  “Flor de Algodón”,  which means “Cotton Flower”. During the war, the Rabinal area was one of the hardest hit by massacres and other horrors. For that reason, it received a lot of attention and aid, and one program provided foot looms that could weave up to 60” wide to many men and women in the area, also teaching them to weave. It was a successful project, right up until the point that the weavers needed markets to sell to. Then the sponsors of the program were done, and left the area. Many abandoned their new skills and went back to whatever they had struggled with before. Flor de Algodón was one of the few groups that did not give up. They found a connection with the newly forming Mayan Hands and have been working with them ever since. Unlike many groups, Flor de Algodón has also gone on to find other clients, joined trade organizations, created their own publicity, and in general, have been independent enough that the rise and fall of one client does not equal their own parallel rise and fall.